Stomach infrastructure has failed in Ekiti, says APC chieftain

In All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ekiti State, Olajide Akinyemi, has promised to use agriculture as a catalyst to develop the Fountain of Knowledge and banish hunger, if he becomes the governor.

Akinyemi in an interview with The Nation in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, said Ekiti has no business being poor if its rich agricultural potentials are well developed and harnessed for the good of its people.

He chided the Ayo Fayose-led administration for abandoning agriculture and deceiving the people with stomach infrastructure which, according to him, has further unleashed hunger on the state.

Akinyemi said Fayose’s stomach infrastructure has failed the people with civil servants being owed arrears of five months, adding that local businesses have been killed with ‘outrageous’ taxes and harsh economic policies.

He said: “It is apparent that Fayose’s stomach infrastructure has failed our people. It was a gimmick used to deceive the electorate. But, we can give our people through investment in agriculture.

“This will ensure food security, provide more employment opportunities by taking our youths off the streets and also generate revenue into the coffers of our state. “

The aspirant, a farmer and investor said the sector can employ not less than 50 per cent of the population in the state.

He promised to establish a youth commercial agriculture scheme in all the 16 local government areas to produce cocoa, plantain, cassava, timber, in large quantity for local consumption and foreign exchange.

Apart from agriculture, Akinyemi promised to make micro-credit loans available to small scale traders, young school leavers, women groups and artisans to own and grow their businesses.

He described the APC as the only party that has the interest of Ekiti at heart, expressing the confidence to win its ticket and the governorship at the 2018 polls.